GRAVES FAMILY BULLETIN
A
Free, Occasional, Online Summary of Items of Interest to Descendants of all
Families of Graves, Greaves, Grieves, Grave, and other spelling variations
Worldwide
Vol. 11, No. 5, June 19, 2009
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Copyright
© 2009 by the Graves Family Association and Kenneth V. Graves. All rights reserved.
Information
on how to start a free subscription to this bulletin and how to be removed from
the subscription list is at the end of this bulletin. If you received this bulletin directly, then you are already
subscribed.
Visit the GFA web site at http://www.gravesfa.org
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CONTENTS:
**
General Comments
**
Special Offer from Family Tree DNA to New Customers
**
Continuation of Offer for Free DNA Testing to Men in the British Isles and
Europe Who Qualify
**
Report on the GFA Trip to England
**
William Woodcock Graves, Author of Popular English Hunting Song
**
To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things
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GENERAL COMMENTS
I
just returned Tuesday night from the Graves Family Association tour of
England. It was a wonderful
experience for us all. We had a
great tour guide, met a few English cousins, saw some beautiful scenery,
enjoyed good shopping and some interesting food, and learned a lot about
English history.
Soon
after I left for England, Family Tree DNA announced a special offer for new
customers. I wasn’t able to send
notification while I was away, but there is still about a week to take
advantage of the offer (until June 24).
If you or members of your family (or more distant relatives in the same
genealogy) haven’t yet participated in our DNA study, now is the time to do so!
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SPECIAL
OFFER FROM FAMILY TREE DNA TO NEW CUSTOMERS
Family
Tree DNA, our preferred DNA testing laboratory, is offering an early summer
special with an unparalleled promotional discount.
Offer
summary:
· Y-DNA37+mtDNA for $119.
(The regular project price is $248 - a reduction of more than 50%!!) The 37-marker test is the one we have
been recommending for some time.
· The promotion began June
9, 2009 and will end on June 24, 2009
· Kits ordered in this
sale must be paid for by June 30, 2009.
(You can pay for them when you place your order.)
The
standard price for the Y-DNA37 by itself is $149 and for the mtDNA
(mitochondrial DNA) test is $99, for a total of $248, so this is a real bargain
even if you are only interested in the Y-DNA test. The standard price for only 12 Y-DNA markers is $99.
This
is an opportunity to skip past the Y-DNA12 and Y-DNA25 tests and get the
best Y-DNA genealogical test on the market in addition to an mtDNA test
for an extremely reduced price!
To order this test, you can go to the
main page of the GFA website, scroll down to the DNA Study section, click on
the link to order the test, and follow the instructions. Alternatively, you can go to the Family
Tree DNA website at http://www.familytreedna.com,
enter Graves or Greaves as the surname in the search box at the top right of
the page, and then proceed with the ordering of the test.
Reminder
of the purpose of Y-DNA and mtDNA testing:
For
the purpose of investigating surname ancestry, the Y-DNA test is the most
helpful. The Y-chromosome is
passed on with little change from father to son, so this test is used for
determining direct male ancestry.
Only males have the Y-chromosome.
Both
males and females inherit mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA). However, only the female passes it on to her children. Therefore, this test will show the
direct female ancestry of an individual.
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CONTINUATION
OF OFFER FOR FREE DNA TESTING TO MEN IN THE BRITISH ISLES AND EUROPE WHO
QUALIFY
The
offer of free Y-DNA DNA testing to men who live in the U.K. or Ireland
continues. We will also include
those who live in other European countries. The requirements are that you be a male with the Greaves,
Graves, or other variant spelling, name, that your part of the family has not
yet been adequately tested, and that you provide information about your
ancestry.
If
you are interested, please contact me as
soon as possible, since I would like to order your test as part of the
special deal from Family Tree DNA discussed in the preceding article.
===============================================
REPORT ON THE GFA TRIP TO ENGLAND
The
Graves Family Association tour of England started on Thursday, June 4, when we
arrived in London and checked into our hotel. Many of the highlights of the tour are mentioned below. I have omitted the hotels where we
stayed, since those were mentioned in the previous issue of this bulletin.
Our
blue badge guide, Tim Hudson, was with us for the entire time, and did an
excellent job. Tim graduated from
Christchurch College, Oxford University, lives in Buckinghamshire, and is an
actor when he isn’t being a guide.
He was especially knowledgeable about the London area, English history,
famous people (living and dead), architecture, art, and literature. His poetry recitations and imitations
of regional accents were especially entertaining.
DAY
1,
Thursday, 4 June. We toured London
in the afternoon, including the inside of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
DAY
2, Friday,
5 June. We toured Suffolk, going
through Colchester, Essex, the oldest town in England. We visited Otley Hall, Otley (8 miles
from Ipswich, Suffolk), were guided by David, a retired volunteer and neighbor,
who had worked in a portion of the house at one time, and met the present
owner. For those interested in
genealogy, especially that of Capt. Thomas Graves (gen. 169), by far the most
important part of this day was the fact that this was the home of Bartholomew
Gosnold, a prime mover behind Virginia and the Jamestown Colony. Early planning meetings of the Virginia
Company are believed to have been held in this house. We also saw many peacocks, flying and bellowing.
We
then went to Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, featuring a gallery of
internationally acclaimed artists, especially Gainsborough and Constable.
DAY
3,
Saturday, 6 June. Our driver (for
the middle 6 days), John, went to school with Ringo Starr, and knew all the
Beatles. We drove to Oxford and
toured the town, the University, and its colleges. We learned about many famous people associated with Oxford,
including C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, and the fact that the Harry Potter
movies used the hall of Christchurch College as the great hall of
Hogwarts. We then drove through
the Cotswold’s, and stopped at the grave of Winston Churchill. Then to Blenham Palace and through
Chipping Norton, to Mickleton Manor (genealogy 68, family of poet and author
Robert Graves) and the Parish Church of St. Lawrence, Mickleton, meeting Gerard
Molyneux (descendant of Adm. Samuel Graves of gen. 68) there.
DAY
4, Sunday,
7 June. We went to Bromsgrove in
Worcestershire and toured Avoncroft, a very interesting outdoor museum of
historic buildings. We drove
through the West Midlands to Kings Norton, where we toured the very interesting
13th century St. Nicholas Church. This is especially pertinent to genealogy 333, William
Greves and Mary Mow of Kings Norton.
We saw Mary Arden’s house and Anne Hathaway’s cottage, and then went to
Stratford-upon-Avon, where we ate lunch and saw many places associated with
William Shakespeare as we walked around the town. We then visited Warwick Castle, and finally the magnificent
ruins of Kenilworth Castle with its sandstone walls.
DAY
5, Monday,
8 June. We passed Moseley Old
Hall, Worcestershire (gen. 236, Greaves Family of Moseley Hall & Yardley,
Worcester). Visited Wedgwood
visitor centre, Stoke-on-Trent, South Staffordshire, saw much history, and many
beautiful items we couldn’t afford in their shops. We continued through the Peak District. We stayed overnight in Buxton, learned
about the famed spa, climbed the hill to the highest marketplace in England,
and saw the Pavilion Gardens and the University of Derby.
DAY
6, Tuesday,
9 June. Toured the Peak District,
Derbyshire, including Mayfield Hall (home of William Greaves, now a
B&B). We drove through Matlock
and saw a cable car to Abraham’s Heights.
We visited Bakewell and walked around the town. Some of us ate lunch in the Rutland
Arms Hotel where Mrs. Greaves accidentally invented the famous Bakewell
Pudding, and we visited the bakery where Mrs. Wilson commercialized it. We then visited Haddon Hall, home of
the Manners family, and with a connection to both the Vernon and Greaves families. We saw Beeley Old Hall and visited
Beeley Hilltop (all of genealogy 228).
This
evening we had an enjoyable meeting with several Greaves family members, and
got DNA samples from two of them.
DAY
7,
Wednesday, 10 June. Drove to the
Lake District, to our hotel in Bowness-on-Windermere, and cruised on Lake
Windermere.
DAY
8,
Thursday, 11 June. Toured the Lake
District and Dove Cottage (the home of William Wordsworth), the Wordsworth
Museum & Art Gallery, Grasmere, and the Wordsworth gravesite. We walked around Castlerigg stone
circle (means “the fort on the ridge”, somewhat like Stonehenge). We then went to Keswick (beautiful town
with marketplace, parks, and many museums - pencil, auto, James Bond,
etc.). We missed seeing Aira Force
(a 70-foot high waterfall) but saw nearby High Force, and then Kirkstone Pass
and Inn, on the way to our hotel in Buxton, Derbyshire.
DAY
9, Friday,
12 June. Visited Bolton Abbey,
Skipton, on the way to York. Most
of this was destroyed by Henry VIII between 1536 and 1541 as part of the
dissolution of the monasteries, but still very impressive. We explored York (including walking its
walls, seeing the Jorvik Viking Centre, etc.).
DAY
10,
Saturday, 13 June. Visited York
Minster and explored more of York.
We then went to Castle Howard near York, a beautiful castle where
Brideshead Revistited was filmed.
DAY
11, Sunday,
14 June. Traveled through
Lincolnshire (including the villages of Billinghay, Tattershall, Coningsby and
Horncastle) and stopped in Boston.
This was especially interesting because it was the home of most of the
Pilgrims before they fled to Holland and eventually sailed to New England. We then visited Kings Lynn, in Norfolk. The entire area visited this day is
connected with the Graves family of Lincolnshire and Lynn, MA (genealogy 83,
Samuel Graves of Lynn, MA, and other genealogies of that group).
DAY
12, Monday,
15 June. We visited the Cambridge
American Cemetery at Madingley, outside Cambridge. We then toured Cambridge, Cambridge University, and especially
King’s College. In King’s College
Chapel, we saw an interesting display of the long history of its
construction. We were especially
fortunate to see part of a rehearsal for a concert in the chapel.
DAY 13, Tuesday, 16 June. Departed for home.
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WILLIAM
WOODCOCK GRAVES, AUTHOR OF POPULAR ENGLISH HUNTING SONG
While
in England, we learned of a Graves family member, William Woodcock Graves, who
was the author of a popular English hunting song. He was born in Wigton,
Cumbria, England in 1795, son of Joseph Graves and Ann Matthews, emigrated to
Van Diemen’s Land (now called Tasmania, part of Australia) in 1834, and died
there in 1886. He was an
eccentric, dabbling in many occupations and enterprises. As a close friend of John Peel, he
wrote the five verses for “D’ye Ken John Peel?” in 1824. It was later slightly revised and
became extremely popular. There is
now a very complete biography of William Woodcock Graves on the Notable Family
Members page of the GFA website, including a link to a Youtube performance of
the song.
Can
some of our Graves family members in Australia or Cumbria tell us more about
this part of the family and its descendants? This is almost certainly part of genealogy 377 and that
group of families from Cumbria.
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ABOUT THIS BULLETIN:
This
bulletin is written and edited by Kenneth V. Graves,
ken.graves@gravesfa.org. Ken
Graves was also editor of the Graves Family Newsletter (no longer
published). This bulletin will
contain announcements and news of special interest to Graves descendants with
Internet access. It will not
contain queries, genealogies, photos, and the kind of in-depth articles that
used to appear in the Graves Family Newsletter.
TO SUBMIT MATERIAL TO THIS BULLETIN:
Send
any material you would like to have included in this bulletin to
ken.graves@gravesfa.org. The
editor reserves the right to accept, edit or reject any material submitted.
TO JOIN THE GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION:
If
you do not already belong to the GFA, you can join by sending $20 per year to
Graves Family Association, 20 Binney Circle, Wrentham, MA 02093 (more details
on GFA website). Payment may also
be sent electronically via PayPal by going to www.paypal.com
and sending payment to gfa@gravesfa.org.
Benefits include access to the “members only” section of the website,
membership directory, and help with learning more about your Graves/Greaves
family. The purpose of the GFA is
to bring together as many descendants as possible to work toward learning more
about the Graves/Greaves families, to help other descendants, and to instill
pride in our ancestry.
COPYRIGHTS:
Although
the contents of this bulletin are copyrighted by the Graves Family Association
and Kenneth V. Graves, you are hereby granted rights, unless otherwise
specified, to re-distribute articles to other parties for non-commercial
purposes only. Do not re-distribute
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